Filed under: Subaru , Toyota , Japan , Coupe , Performance If you like the Scion FR-S but aren’t a fan of its aggressively styled front end, you’d apparently be in good company in Japan, where Toyota is offering this re-snouted 86 Style Cb edition. Continue reading Toyota updates 86 in Japan with this weird special edition Toyota updates 86 in Japan with this weird special edition originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 11 Feb 2015 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Filed under: Coupe , Performance , Subaru , Toyota Hallelujah friends, hallelujah. One of the highest voices in Subaru’s parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries , has just said that the boxer-obsessed automaker will release a second generation of the lovable BRZ . Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, president of FHI, has summarily shot down assertions made by Tetsuya Tada , the chief engineer for the Toyota GT86 . In a recent interview with an Australian publication, Tada claimed that Subaru had not decided whether it would be involved in the followup effort to the rear-drive coupe, and even speculated that the Toyota could team with BMW for a second-gen car, instead. “If I were to be told that, I’d pass out. It’s not going to be just one generation ,” Yoshinaga-san told Automotive News. Despite this claim, even Yoshinaga confirmed that in order for the BRZ to be viable, his company needs Toyota. Should Toyota make the move to BMW as part of its joint-venture agreement, though, it’d cast some major doubts on the likelihood of a second-gen BRZ ever seeing the light of day. Subaru BRZ to get second generation, says exec originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Jul 2014 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

Filed under: Coupe , Performance , Japan , Technology , Videos , Toyota , Toys/Games Part of the fun in taking your sports car to the racetrack is going over your telemetry and seeing how you did from one corner to the next. We’ve seen a variety of these onboard systems at work – with the Performance Data Recorder on the Corvette Stingray emerging as one of the latest and most advanced – but Toyota is taking things a step further with its new Sport Drive Logger. The system is being rolled out (at least initially) on the Japanese Domestic Market Toyota 86 , a coupe European customers might more readily recognize as the GT86 and what we would call the Scion FR-S (itself a kissing cousin to the Subaru BRZ ). Despite its name, the Sports Drive Logger doesn’t have anything to do with competitive lumberjacking, instead, it’s an integrated telemetry system that, as promised , syncs up with Gran Turismo 6 on the PS3 . Developed in partnership with Sony , the system logs all manner of data – including satellite positioning, pedal depression, steering angle, gear selection, engine revs and vehicle speed – onto a USB stick for transfer to your PlayStation. Once loaded into the video game system, the data recreates a virtual representation of your track run and displays it – along with all the raw data – as if you had lapped the circuit in the game. Drivers will even be able to compare their laps against their friends’ through the system, which initially offers support for Fuji, Tsubuka and Suzuka, “with additional circuits planned for the future.” We’re still waiting for confirmation on if and when the system will be available in the US (with support for some of our favorite Stateside circuits), but in the meantime, you can scope out the details in the press release along with the video footage below for a closer look. Continue reading Toyota 86 gets PlayStation-based telemetry system in Japan [w/video] Toyota 86 gets PlayStation-based telemetry system in Japan [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Apr 2014 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Filed under: Aftermarket , Coupe , Performance , Japan , Videos , Scion , Toyota , Tokyo Auto Salon Gazoo Racing has teased a new take on the Toyota GT86 (our Scion FR-S ) that it is bringing to next week’s Tokyo Auto Salon . Having only posted a picture of the coupe’s rear wing and backlight on its Facebook page, we have no idea what the rest of the concept will offer. If last year’s introduction is any guide, there should be plenty more bodykit and power to go along with that wing. Speaking of last year’s concept, Gazoo has released some new track footage of its twin-charged GRMN Sports FR Platinum Concept from last year’s Salon. It will return to this year’s show alongside the new car, and you can watch it drift deliciously in the new video below . Continue reading Gazoo Racing hints at Toyota GT86 concept for Tokyo Auto Salon [w/video] Gazoo Racing hints at Toyota GT86 concept for Tokyo Auto Salon [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 02 Jan 2014 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Filed under: Car Buying , Concept Cars , Convertible , Scion , Subaru , Toyota Bad news, sportscar fans. According to a new report from What Car? , Toyota has cancelled plans to produce a GT86 convertible, a model based on the FT-86 Open Concept that debuted at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show . In truth, Toyota never actually confirmed it would produce the budget-friendly droptop in the first place, but rumors have been flying since last year and Toyota reportedly showed its embattled Scion dealers a FR-S version of the convertible in August . Presumably, this means that a lidless variant of the Subaru BRZ is not in the cards, either. The reason for the move is unknown, though What Car? reports “one possible cause is weight; Toyota did say that further work would be required on rigidity before the convertible could be launched, and that could have added extra bulk that conflict with the regular GT86’s ethos of light weight and agile handling.” It doesn’t look like that work will happen anytime soon, as “sources now say that the car has now been delayed indefinitely, with no place in Toyota’s product plan in either 2014 or 2015.” Still holding out hope? What Car? says the project could be “fast-tracked” if management decides it wants to reboot the program down the road. one possible cause is weight; Toyota did say that further work would be required on rigidity before the convertible could be launched, and that could have added extra bulk that conflict with the regular GT86’s ethos of light weight and agile handling.

Filed under: Coupe , Performance , Scion , Subaru , Toyota The Sydney Morning Herald has spoken to Tetsuya Tada, chief engineer of the Toyota 86 (our version of it, the Scion FR-S , is pictured above), and they’ve been promised that more power is on the way. We’ve heard a lot of speculation about a more powerful Toyobaru since before the standard model was even launched. The only question now is how the power will be delivered, and among the engine concepts we’ve already heard about – turbo, supercharger, twin-charged, hybrid – is a new one: more displacement. Tada said that an engine with more displacement than the current coupe’s 2.0 liters is being tested alongside a turbocharged and a hybrid-assisted motor. The SMH cites “inside sources” as saying the displacement option is the one likely to get the go-ahead, and suggests increased bore and stroke will see the engine grow to 2.5 liters, horsepower to about 250 – a 50-hp increase over the present car. While that’s apparently the betting man’s solution for the long-awaited increase in gumption, what happens with the next generation could be more wide open than we suspected. According to the report, Tada “hinted that [a successor] could be a radically different car, potentially dropping the boxer engine altogether.” He said once they’ve sorted out the concept for the second generation car, then they’ll sort out an engine. That’s where a turbo option could come to market, perhaps the turbocharged four-cylinder Toyota is developing for the Lexus NX crossover or a hybrid system that uses a capacitor. This leaves us wondering what, if anything, will happen with the (presumed) next generation of the Subaru BRZ . But for now, the cavalry – more horses – is on the way for the current generation, one way or another.

Filed under: Motorsports , Coupe , Performance , Japan , Toyota , UK , Design/Style If you liked the Martini Racing Porsche 918 Spyder we just brought you, then you ought to dig this, too. Toyota is bringing back its Team Toyota GB livery for the GT 86 entry into the Britcar 24 Hours. Unlike the the classically decorated 918 , we can confirm that the so-hot-right-now Toyota coupe will actually be racing. The livery harkens back to the AE86 of the raging 80s for the Japanese-British race team. Successfully campaigned by Tiff Needell and others, it took on the likes of an Atari-sponsored Mitsubishi Starion . How’s that for getting your 80s fix? Team Toyota GB ran with great success in the British Touring Car and British Rally Championships in the 80s and early 90s. The rendering released by Toyota, seen above, boasts the livery of that heyday in lightweight Japanese racing. This will not be the first time that Toyota has entered a GT 86 in competition. The Japanese automaker ran it at the N

Filed under: Motorsports , Coupe , Performance , Videos , Scion , Toyota , Middle East Toyota drifted an FT-86 all over United Arab Emirates roads when the coupe was launched there last month, and now it’s doing it again. 27-year-old Ahmed Omran Al- Amri is the two-time drift championship winner as part of the Emirates Drift Team in his native UAE, and he has used a turbocharged, 570-horsepower Toyota Soarer (our Lexus SC ) as his ride to those titles. Rewarding his team for its winning ways and Toyota love, the Japanese company has taken over to form the Toyota Emirates Drifting Team and provided it with Toyota 86 hatchbacks (our Scion FR-S ) to campaign. Al-Amri has already won this year’s title, but check out the video below of testing the new cars at Yas Marina Circuit for his thoughts on the new car and, of course, beaucoup tire smoke. Continue reading Toyota launches Emirates drift team with new 86 video Toyota launches Emirates drift team with new 86 video originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Filed under: Car Buying , Coupe , Performance , Etc. , Videos , Toyota , Middle East Toyota has officially launched the company’s GT 86 sportscar in the United Arab Emirates . The Japanese automaker rolled out the rear-drive hero with a fancy new video shot in the hills around Fujairah. With plenty of drifting , tire smoke and slow motion, the clip serves as a proper introduction to the lightweight coupe. Judging by the quick video, there are a few market-specific changes to the UAE Toyota GT 86, including the availability of one very massive rear wing. The piece has more than a passing resemblance to the exaggerated aero work found on the lusty Subaru WRX STI sedan. Will the Toyota GT 86 find favor in the UAE? We certainly think it’s got a shot. If there’s a more car-obsessed culture on this planet than the one found in the U.S., it lies in the well-funded Middle East. You can check out the launch video for yourself by scrolling below , or head over to the Toyota UAE Facebook page for a little more information.

Filed under: Coupe , Performance , Europe , Tokyo Motor Show , Toyota It’s no secret that the Toyota FT-86 will finally make its production-spec debut next week at the Tokyo Motor Show , and ahead of that, the automaker’s UK office has released the first official photos and some initial specs. In Europe, the car will officially be called the Toyota GT 86. In Japan, however, the car will simply be called 86. Cutting right to the chase, here are the specs that are now official, from the Toyota UK announcement. Obviously, there’s more to come: 2.0-liter boxer with D4-S injection (direct and port injected) 197 hp @ 7,000 rpm and 151 lb-ft (205 Nm) @6,600 rpm 6-speed manual or automatic transmissions 17-inch wheel/tire package standard 4,240mm (167 in.) long, 1285mm (50.6 in.) high, 2,570mm (101 in.) wide 53:47 front-to-rear weight distribution 475mm (18.7 in.) center of gravity As demonstrated in the photos, everything is basically in line with what we’ve seen so far in the various leaked materials . So, start getting excited. In addition to the sharp styling outside, the interior looks the business, and the “86” fender logo is just plain cool. The GT 86 goes on sale in the UK next June. We’ll be on hand in Tokyo for the official reveal at the end of the coming week, with plenty more then. In the meantime, peruse the photo gallery, then hit the jump for a video and the full press release.